A charity concert was held this week under the auspices of Mrs Suzanne Mubarak, who is also the honorary president of the Rotary Clubs, on the occasion of the centenary celebration of the founding of the International Rotary Clubs. The event, held at the Cairo International Conferences Centre, was truly a magnificent do and Mrs Mubarak was received by governor of the Rotary area 2450 Mounir Thabet, newly appointed Minister of Youth Mamdouh El- Beltagui and Cairo Governor Abdel-Azim Wazir. The concert featured our favourite Lebanese diva Magda El-Roumi who enthralled her audience with old and new numbers. The concert's revenues go to illiteracy eradication projects and Thabet and Hani Seif El-Nasr of the Social Fund for Development (SFD) seized the opportunity to sign a cooperation agreement promoting charity projects. Also celebrating the centenary, another concert was held featuring pop singers Amr Diab and the voluptuous Lebanese Hayfaa Wahbi, both of whom donated the revenues of the event also to eradicating illiteracy. The opportunity was taken to honour both Al-Ahram Editor-in-Chief and Chairman of the Board Ibrahim Nafie and Thabet for their relentless efforts in supporting the charity projects of the Rotary Clubs. It was a week to celebrate anniversaries it seems. The 44th anniversary of Kuwait's National Day was commemorated in style by Kuwait's Ambassador to Egypt Ahmed Khaled El-Kleib who held a reception party at the Cleopatra Ballroom at the Semiramis Hotel. The event was crowned with the presence of Secretary-General of the Arab League Amr Moussa, former prime minister Atef Ebeid, Minister of Manpower and Immigration Ahmed El-Amawi, Minister of Islamic Endowment Mahmoud Hamdi Zaqzouk, Oman's Ambassador to Egypt Abdel-Aziz El- Hanaaiy and his Moroccan counterpart Mohamed Farag El-Doukali. Yesterday, I was treated to a musical evening featuring Iraqi oud master Nasseer Shamma and one of Spain's best six flamenco guitarists Carlos Pinana. Together the artists played a mélange of mesmerising oriental and Spanish music. The concert, held at Al-Gumhouriya Theatre, marked the opening of Murc�a Cultures Encounter Festival, established by Murc�a city five years ago in Spain. It turns out that this year, and for the first time ever, Cairo has the honour of hosting the festival's sixth round -- hosted last year by Rabat, Morocco. The events of the festival are made possible by the Murc�a municipality, the Cairo Opera House, the Spanish Cultural Centre in Egypt (Cervantes) and the Cultural Development Fund. So go and indulge in the series of cultural activities that comprise the festival including musical concerts, theatrical shows and an exhibition of books and periodicals. And if you missed yesterday's concert, you can make it up on 6 March when it will be repeated at the Madrid National Theatre! photos: Ayman Barayez This week, the retrospective exhibition of veteran artist Mounir Canaan opened at the Centre of Arts in Zamalek. Running through 10 March, the exhibit showcases the artist's entire oeuvre created in the period from 1956 to 1960 including his depictions of Nubia before it was submerged by the construction of the Aswan High Dam. The opening was attended by the eminent writer and political analyst Mohamed Hassanein Heikal, Minister of Manpower and Immigration Ahmed El-Amawi, former foreign minister Ahmed Maher and former editor-in-chief of Akher Sa'aa magazine Wagdi Qandil. Everyone was welcomed by Canaan 's widow our dear colleague and Editor-in-Chief of Nisf Al-Donia magazine Sanaa El-Bissi and her son Hisham Canaan. At a press conference held last Monday at the European Commission in Mohandessin, the first-ever Euromed Heritage Journalistic Award (EHJA) programme was launched for journalists under the age of 35. I was assured, however, that articles from journalists above the determined age are also welcome and the best of the entries may be published in a Euromed Heritage publication. The EHJA is an international press competition focussed on the preservation and promotion of cultural heritage and is organised by the European Commission via the Regional Management and Support Unit (RMSU) of the Euromed Heritage Programme. The award aims at encouraging the media to play a significant role in safeguarding and promoting cultural heritage among the public, modifying laws, collecting funds as well as raising the cultural heritage awareness in the Mediterranean region by encouraging high quality reporting. The regional director of the Orbit satellite channel office in Cairo Ayman Salem held the annual party of the channel at the Four Seasons Nile Plaza Hotel. As I nibbled at the appetisers I mixed with Orbit directors, presenters and producers as well as actress Maha Abu Aouf, belly dancer Dina, luscious singer-cum-actress Roubi and former Egyptian squash champion Ahmed Barada who retired after being stabbed in the back by an unknown assailant, came out with a couple of albums which did not do too well. Mix kids and drugs and the results can only be disastrous. It is important to keep stock of such wisdoms and so on the occasion of hosting the Board Meeting of the International Council on Alcohol and Addiction (ICAA) in Cairo a couple of days ago, I made a point of attending. The Arab Council for Childhood and Development (ACCD) held a press conference presided over by ICAA President Peter Vamos and ICAA Cairo Office manager Sharafeddin Hamad El-Malek. Al-Hilal magazine is moving forward into the digitalised world; so we were told at a press conference held at the Supreme Council of Culture. The digitalisation of the magazine whose issues are a documentation of contemporary Egyptian history will take place in cooperation with the Manuscripts Centre at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, headed by Youssef Zeidan. Participants at this week's event were Bibliotheca librarian Ismail Serageldin, Al-Hilal Chairman of the Board Makram Mohamed Ahmed, as well as its Editor-in-Chief Mustafa Nabil.
